Marlon Tapales paid homage to the great Manny Pacquiao in his palatial residence in General Santos City on Thursday night and came home armed with a bagful of tips on how to defeat Naoya 'Monster' Inoue.
While their unification super-bantamweight title fight has yet to be finalized, Pacquiao nonetheless didn't mind imparting his know-how.
"He told me to use footwork and train very hard," Tapales said after meeting with the boxing legend accompanied by his promoter JC Mananquil and chief trainer Ernel Fontanilla.
Tapales, the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation champion, is being eyed to battle Inoue, the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization titleholder in a unification clash in November or December at the Tokyo Dome.
Inoue, who is regarded as the world's best pound-for-pound alongside fellow welterweight Terence Crawford, posted a brutal knockout of American Stephen Fulton recently in Tokyo.
Tapales had won the WBA/IBF 122-lb belts by upsetting Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan last April in San Antonio, Texas.